What You Should Look for in a Business Coach

What You Should Look for in a Business Coach

Business Coaching is the second fastest growing industry today. Why? Because more and more Executives and Business Owners are realizing the tangible (and in-tangible) results they can achieve by working with an experienced business coach.

Out of a hundred CEO’s interviewed, almost every one said they could absolutely see the value of working with a coach, however, less than 30% were actively engaged in a coach. The reason the other 65+% hadn’t engage a coach is because, although they wanted one, they weren’t convinced they could find one to help them with what they truly needed. So, in “theory” hiring a coach sounds good, but in reality they were pretty reluctant to do anything about it.

From my experience in coaching hundreds of business owners and CEO’s, finding the right coach is critical. Here are a few tips to help you find the right coach for your needs:

First define what success looks like for you. Know what you want to accomplish in working with a business coach. Be prepared to describe what results you want to achieve. If you can’t describe that to your coach upfront, even before you hire them, you are at risk of not going in the right direction and, more importantly, hiring a coach that doesn’t have the expertise, skills or talent to help get you to where you need to be. Your coach can only guide you based on the input you give them. So, know what that is.

Make sure the coach you hire has the social proof to back up what it is your trying to achieve. Can you speak with a few past clients? Do they have some testimonials and/or case studies laying out the work they did with past clients and the results they achieved…especially as they relate to your goals. Don’t hire someone just because you like them or they were referred to you from a friend…

Make sure they are a great fit. At the end of the day, this is a relationship. Being coached by someone you don’t like simply won’t work…no matter how great they might be. With that said, your coach should not be your friend. You are NOT hiring a friend, you are hiring an expert to help you achieve your goals, but if you don’t have great rapport with them (trust, affinity, and respect), you won’t be willing to really listen to them when it matters. As Tom Landry put it so well, “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t wan to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.

To learn more about coaching, please go to www.onesource3a.wpengine.com.